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Fighting flares in Sri Lanka

The conflict in the island-country has killed more than 60,000 people [EPA]

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a pre-dawnassault against five key military camps in the coastal Batticaloadistrict and several civilians were caught in the crossfire, localmilitary officials said.

Casualties

They said about 40 civilians were wounded in rebel mortar bombattacks that also hit a relief centre.The security forces recoveredthe bodies of 10 rebels, including a woman fighter, killed in thepre-dawn battle, they said.

The military said four soldiers were killed and 30 wounded. Inanother confrontation in the island's north, five Tigers werekilled, the military said.

In the east of the island, at least 300 Tiger fighters wereinvolved in simultaneous attacks against the military camps, thedefence ministry said.

The air force deployed Israeli-built Kfir jets to bomb twopositions in the Batticaloa district, AjanthaSilva, an air force spokesman, said.

The LTTE said their attack on the camps was pre-emptive, but said they had no firm details on casualties.

"Our troops launched a pre-emptive strike on the Sri Lankan military build-up, the purpose of which is to launch operations into our administered area," Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan, Tiger military spokesman, said from the rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi.

"They also want to disrupt the harvest and to make more IDPs (internally displaced people)," he added. "With our pre-emptive strike, we were able to stop the havoc...I accept there is a possibility of casualties on our side."

The conflict in Sri Lanka has killed more than 60,000 people since the Tamil Tiger rebels began their armed campaign for a separate homeland in 1982.

About 4,000 people have been killed in a new wave offighting since December 2005. The fighting comes despite a truce in place since February2002.